Suddenly, Last Summer Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Suddenly, Last Summer Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 10, 2016

Nominated for three Oscar Awards, including Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Actress in a Leading Role, Joseph Mankiewicz's "Suddenly, Last Summer" (1959) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Australian label Via Vision Entertainment. There are no supplemental features on the disc. In English, without optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The beautiful girl

The stars shine bright in this beautiful but once quite controversial film directed by Joseph Mankieeicz. It is based on the popular one-act play by Tennessee Williams, which was adapted by Gore Vidal. (Some years later, Vidal also teamed up with Italian director Tinto Brass and wrote the script for the far more polarizing Caligula).

The film is set in New Orleans during the early 1930s. The wealthy Mrs. Violet Venable (Katharine Hepburn) contacts a local hospital with a request for help. She wants the hospital’s primary neurologist, Dr. John Cukrowicz (Montgomery Clift), to perform lobotomy on her niece, Catherine Holly (Elizabeth Taylor). She claims that since the tragic death of her son, Sebastian, Catherine has been severely traumatized and frequently has trouble separating fiction from reality. At first the overworked Dr. Cukrowicz refuses to examine Catherine, but when the director of the hospital (Albert Dekker) urges him to reconsider because Mrs. Venable is likely to make a big donation that will solve its financial problems he reluctantly changes his mind.

Dr. Cukrowicz visits Mrs. Venable and after a long discussion with her concludes that her descriptions of the symptoms of Catherine’s condition are rather problematic. Then he meets Catherine and discovers that she has in fact gone through intense cycles of depression that occurred after a long summer trip to Europe where Sebastian tragically died. Dr. Cukrowicz then attempts to find out precisely how Sebastian died so that he can understand what triggered Catherine’s suffering and properly diagnose her, but the more he learns about her relationship with him, the more he begins to realize that the severity of her medical condition might be grossly overstated.

The film does remind of an elaborate stage play. Large segments of it are essentially carefully scripted conversations in which the main characters discuss different events that have affected their lives in very specific ways. Dr. Cukrowicz’s job is to separate the real from the imaginary ones and then place them in the proper order.

There is plenty of material that is left to the viewer to deconstruct, but this isn’t a challenging task. The story that emerges at the end is so dark and disturbing that it does feel like it was better not to spell out certain details. (Most archival reviews basically spoil the finale by addressing in detail these ‘unidentified’ disturbing elements of the story, so it is best to avoid them and see the film unprepared).

The leads and the supporting cast are quite spectacular. Hepburn looks like a genuine Southern dowager who is used to having the last word even when she is aware that her opinions are flawed. Taylor is stunning in her Parisian dress and her frequent outbursts look absolutely genuine. Clift is a bit stiff, nervous and even uncomfortable around the two women but it works for his character and does make him look like the outsider that he is. Gary Raymond and Mercedes Cambridge are Catherine’s greedy brother and mother who have little interest in seeing her cured.

The film was lensed by cinematographer Jack Hildyard, whose credits also include such classics as Hobson's Choice, The Deep Blue Sea, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Battle of the Bulge.

Suddenly, Last Summer Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Joseph Mankiewicz's Suddenly, Last Summer arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Via Vision Entertainment.

The release is sourced from a recent and very strong organic 4K master, which I assume will be used for the inevitable U.S. release of the film. Both close-ups and larger panoramic shots convey outstanding depth and fluidity (see screencaptures #3 and 4). The grayscale is wonderfully balanced as well -- the whites and blacks are lush but not artificially boosted and there is an excellent range of nuanced grays that bring them together. Grain is well exposed and resolved, never appearing artificially flattened, though my feeling is that with some minor optimizations the visuals would have been even more striking. Regardless, when projected the film has the excellent tight appearance that recent high-quality masters deliver. There are no traces of problematic sharpening adjustments. Finally, there are no distracting large debris, cuts, stains, damage marks, or warped frames to report in our review. My score is 4.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

Suddenly, Last Summer Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English: Dolby Digital 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are not provided for the main feature.

A lossless track would have been preferable, but the lossy track is in fact excellent. It immediately becomes obvious that the audio has been fully remastered -- almost certainly during the restoration process -- and as a result clarity and balance are outstanding. More importantly, depth is also very good. It probably helps that this is primarily a dialog-driven feature, but the point is that the quality of the audio is indeed outstanding. There are no distracting clicks, pops, background hiss, distortions, or other age-specific imperfections.

Suddenly, Last Summer Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray release.

Suddenly, Last Summer Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Australian label Via Vision Entertainment's recent release of Joseph Mankiewicz's Suddenly, Last Summer is sourced a recent and very strong 4K organic master, which I assume will also be used for the inevitable U.S. Blu-ray release of this excellent film. At the moment this is the only Blu-ray release of the film on the market, and it is Region-Free. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.